• • • • •
The gargantuan stalactite snapped and splashed down, cracking against the bottom of the pool and hurling a great wave over Rysha’s head. She wanted to duck and hide, but she couldn’t.
The construct continued forward, knocking stalactites down like an elephant crashing through a bamboo forest. Water lapped around the bottom of the metal pyramid, the wheels propelling it not visible, but Rysha’s idea that the pool would slow down or break the construct now seemed delusional.
With the water lapping just under her breasts, Rysha scooted back farther, half walking and half swimming. She was deep within the shadows, in a nook between the side of the stone pyramid and the cavern walls, and she worried she would get herself trapped. But she thought she still had room to circle around and swim out. She hoped.
When she’d volunteered to distract one of these things so Trip could run in, she’d imagined him taking a minute or two to find a switch to turn them off. After that, her role would have been done. But he had been gone far longer than two minutes.
An explosion ripped through the air on the far side of the cavern, echoing off the stone walls. The bottom of the pool trembled, and Rysha pitched sideways, her shoulder banging into a stalactite. Water sloshed against the walls and the construct. Unfortunately, the hulking pyramid did not slow down. It snapped another stalactite free of the ceiling as it continued toward Rysha.
She glimpsed the back wall of the cavern behind her. She didn’t have much space left to hide in. It was time to work her away around the construct and back out of the water. She would have to try something else.
“Explosives hurt them!” Kaika yelled from the far side of the cavern.
“You’ll bring down thousands of tons of rock on us,” Blazer yelled from the same direction as Kaika.
“There’s way more rock up there than that, but—” Clangs of steel interrupted Kaika, and Rysha imagined her in a sword fight with the humanoid figure atop the construct, her one blade against its four. “I’ve got plenty of control,” Kaika finished, still yelling. She sounded exulted rather than worried.
As Rysha worked her way to the side wall, trying to keep numerous stalactites between her and the construct, her hulking foe adjusted its route. It knew exactly where she was, and it shifted, trying to cut her off.
Rysha’s boots slipped on the slick bottom of the pool. More stalactites snapped off, close enough to her that shards of rock pelted the side of her face. Water sloshed up to her shoulders. If she hadn’t carried Dorfindral, she would have given up on running and swum. That would have been faster.
One of the falling stalactites tumbled toward her. She shrieked and flung herself back to avoid it. The top, sheared clean from the roof, slammed against the wall just ahead of her and stuck there. If it hadn’t caught, it might have slammed onto the top of her head.
“Ravenwood, explosives work!” Kaika called.
“Great news! I don’t have any!”
Though she wanted to curse and yell at the construct and the situation, Rysha took a breath so she could swim under the stalactite blocking her way. Her shoulder bumped against the wall, as did her boots as she kicked to propel herself forward. Dorfindral clacked against rocks, the sound tinny under water.
Rysha came up with a gasp, stroking and kicking, but she wasn’t fast enough. The construct was scant feet from her, about to ram her against the wall. She saw the corner of it and the light of the cavern beyond it, but it seemed so far away.
Rysha dropped down, pushed off the bottom, and arched over the surface like a dolphin as she scrambled to reach that corner before she ran out of space. She repeated the movement, taking hope from the bright light of the cavern now visible beyond the construct.
The base of the pyramid rolled into the wall, and Rysha feared she wouldn’t escape in time, but it created a wave as it shoved against the rock. That wave propelled her out of the gap with a split second to spare.
Knowing the construct would only shift directions to follow her again, Rysha kept swimming and running, angling for shallower water.
Another boom sounded. This time, Rysha could see out of the pool and toward the other construct. Smoke wafted out from under its body on all sides, and then it smashed down to the ground, its wheels broken or smothered.
“That’s it,” Duck yelled. “Do another one, ma’am!”
But Kaika was too busy to answer. She stood atop the pyramid, fighting with the eight-armed automaton, her glowing blade clashing against the axe, sword, shield, and spear her foe wielded. She defended well, dancing away from the barrage of attacks that came from all sides, but even from across the chamber, Rysha could see that it was only a matter of time before Kaika misstepped or missed a crucial slash. In addition to the threat from all those arms and blades, there wasn’t that much room to maneuver atop that platform.
Duck and Blazer were climbing the pyramid toward the platform, as if to help Kaika, but Rysha was the only other one with a chapaharii blade. She was the only one who could truly help.
Rysha snorted. An arrogant thought, that. She hadn’t put more than a dent or two in the one pursuing her. As she made it to knee-deep water, then sprinted out of the pool, her construct followed her.
She ran across the cavern toward the other one, thinking that maybe if she joined the others in climbing up to battle the automaton, the construct pursuing her would hesitate. Maybe it was programmed not to get in the way of its fellow magical guard.
“One can hope,” she panted, short of breath after her frantic efforts in the pool.
Rysha glanced into the tunnel in the pyramid as she ran past it, but she didn’t see any sign of Trip. She glanced the other way, toward the passage through which they’d entered, wondering if it was too late or if they could all flee that way. But she remembered the dead man, someone who had once thought he, too, could flee. And he’d failed to make it.
“Give some of those to Ravenwood,” Kaika yelled.
Rysha had no idea who she was talking to. Blazer, Leftie, and Duck were all on the construct now, hanging from the flat ledge at the top of the pyramid. The men shot at the eight-armed figure whenever they got a chance.
Rysha wanted to yell at them for risking themselves and wasting ammunition, but one of Duck’s shots knocked a spear out of the automaton’s hand. It bounced off the platform, skidded down the side of the pyramid, and struck the stone floor.
“I’m going to shove them all into the innards of this thing,” Blazer yelled. She held Kaika’s bag, Kaika’s explosives.
“Not all of them. You can’t just—shit!” Kaika ducked as three arms ganged up on her at once.
A sword swept over her head, and she somehow dodged aside an axe aimed at her gut, but the shield butted her in the shoulder. It knocked her off the ledge, and she slid down the pyramid, cursing and scraping Eryndral down its outside as she fell. The spear Duck had shot floated back upward at the same time, once again landing in the figure’s hand. One of its eight hands. The odds were too ridiculous.
Rysha ran to Kaika to help her up. “Ma’am, this is impossible.”
“No, it’s not. Look, we broke the bottom half. It can’t move anymore.”
“If that’s true, then can’t we just get out of its range?” Rysha glanced toward the construct now trundling out of the water, another eight-armed automaton, hands full of weapons, waving them menacingly as it approached.
“Uh. Maybe.” Kaika jumped to her feet. “Get down, you three.”
The words had barely come out when Leftie was knocked from the platform. He tumbled down, landing ungracefully on the hard floor. He groaned, but pushed himself to his feet.
“The other one’s coming,” Rysha warned, and they ran around the corner of the stationary one to use it for cover. The figure atop it continued to wave its weapons as Blazer and Duck slid down the pyramid. It didn’t—couldn’t—move to give chase. “How did you break that one?” she asked Kaika.
But Kaika was watchin
g the automaton atop the closest construct. “Axe, look out!”
As soon as Duck and Blazer touched down, they sprang to the sides. But an axe hurtled down, and it caught Blazer in the back of the head.
It looked like the flat had struck her rather than the edge, but Rysha wasn’t sure. She cried out something useless, horror filling her heart as Blazer pitched forward. Seven gods, what if that had been a killing blow?
Kaika roared and ran toward Blazer as Duck hefted her over his shoulder, staggered, and ran toward the tunnel. Kaika whirled, anticipating another attack. A spear zipped down, but Eryndral flared, and she knocked it aside.
“To the tunnel,” Duck yelled. “Everyone.”
“My rifle,” Leftie blurted, looking around.
“Get it later,” Duck barked. “It doesn’t do anything anyway.”
Leftie scowled, but ran after him. Kaika didn’t look like she wanted to retreat, but the other construct was advancing to cut them off.
Rysha started after them, but she spotted a rucksack nearby, the flap open. Kaika’s. While the construct that remained ambulatory rolled toward the tunnel, hurling weapons at her comrades, Rysha sprinted for the pack. She crouched, digging through components and rolls of wire while being careful not to get anything wet. Her clothing dripped water onto the floor all around her.
There were so many kinds of bombs she hadn’t seen before, much less used. But she remembered how to assemble the type they had employed on those boulders. Would that work to blow the wheels off that other construct?
“It better,” she muttered, pulling out the components. It was all she knew how to make.
The construct chased the others into the tunnel, then rolled back and forth in front of it. Rysha grimaced, realizing she was trapped once again.
More than that, the automaton at the top of the stationary construct had turned its attention on her. She was about to find out if she could assemble explosives while dodging spears hurled at her.
25
The great gold dragon shifted into human form to lounge on one of the many cushioned beds in the temple his servants had built for him. A female attended him, rubbing his body and delivering morsels of food. Other humans enjoyed each other’s company in the aftermath of the ceremony. They had given him a worthy sacrifice this time, though it was more the sexual enjoyments that brought him to this remote mountain lair where he deigned to grant favors to his minions. He shape-shifted into human form to mate with the females, and he occasionally intrigued himself by rutting with females of different species that his devotees brought to him. The pleasure was different in each form, and he enjoyed experiencing it all. He’d known many females of his own kind over the centuries, but they always believed themselves the dominant and superior being in the pairing, and that galled him. As if he, a great gold dragon, should be subservient to anyone else.
Agarrenon Shivar? a tentative voice spoke into his mind. It belonged to the bronze dragon researching the pesky virus that had been irritating him all year, weakening his strong and virile body.
What do you want, bronze?
I am here with several of the elders.
Yes, Agarrenon Shivar sensed that, sensed unwelcome guests descending upon his secluded domicile. Invading his privacy. Why would other dragons have come here to this inhospitable continent and risked the slvenomorsh?
Leave my home, Agarrenon Shivar growled into their minds.
You requested I do this research for you, the bronze said. I have. But there is no known cure. You will only grow weaker.
Lies! You seek to claim my domain, my minions. All that I have built and claimed for myself. You bronzes have always been known for your treachery.
I am a doctor and a scientist. That is all. With time, I will find a cure for you, but you may not have time. Unless… You are aware of our stasis magic?
You think you will put me to sleep? So I am weak and you can kill me? I refuse! Better to die in the sky.
You haven’t a choice, another voice growled into Agarrenon Shivar’s mind. Who was that? Yorlinorash from the Circle of Elders? The last time you came to a meeting, you infected others with your disease. Others who are weaker than you and are already dying.
It’s possible you could infect our entire race and cause our extinction, the bronze added.
You did this! he bellowed at the bronze. In his anger, Agarrenon Shivar hurled power around the temple, sending some of his minions flying. They cried out in pain and fear. He didn’t care. This was intolerable. Some conniving bronze dragon. I refuse—
You have no choice, Yorlinorash repeated. We’ve brought the materials and a human engineer to assist in fitting it all into this… place. This place made for you by your human slaves. A sneer accompanied Yorlinorash’s words. As if there was anything wrong with being attended by servants, by ruling over them instead of living alone on some drafty mountaintop. We will handle the preparation of your stasis chamber. Our engineer has made devices to protect your lair from intruders while you sleep, and we have brought additional chambers to hold your unholy offspring to care for you when you wake, in case time weakens you. Perhaps this will be an appropriate use for the proliferation of half-breed monstrosities you’ve thrust upon the world.
Weakens! Nothing shall weaken the great Agarrenon Shivar.
You have no choice, Yorlinorash repeated.
Power swept down the tunnels with his words, invading Agarrenon Shivar’s home. It was not just the power of one, but the power of a half-dozen dragons, all golds. They were too many to fight, and he found himself helpless and pinned as they brought in the materials for one large stasis chamber and many smaller ones. His human minions fled, having no idea what was happening to their great dragon leader.
The engineer, a human woman Agarrenon Shivar remembered claiming for himself, guided the work. She whispered and bowed often to Yorlinorash, and Agarrenon Shivar realized she must now be his. No wonder the dragon was spearheading this. It was jealousy. No, revenge. And the sniveling bronze was standing close by, helping now and then, but mostly looking pleased at seeing a great gold dragon laid so low.
There was nothing Agarrenon Shivar could do. Yorlinorash had gathered too many to help in this, and in the end, Agarrenon Shivar was forced against his will to step into the chamber they created.
The human engineer stood next to the bronze dragon, the two working together to seal the chamber and activate the control spheres. She rested her palm on one, then gazed backward, her expression sad as she watched crying babies and whimpering animals being brought into the temple. A wave of sorrow flowed from her, but she had no choice but to do this, no choice but to give her own baby and all the other mothers’ offspring to the future. One day, she hoped, there would be a cure for them.
Go, the bronze dragon told her. I will finish the rest.
Deceit lurked in his thoughts, but the human could not know. She bowed her head and walked away as the bronze slid his claws over the second control orb, planting a weakness in it, sabotaging the main stasis chamber so that it would one day fail.
Agarrenon Shivar tried to spread his wings and break out, to attack, but it was too late. A deep weariness came over him, and awareness slipped from his thoughts. The bronze dragon looked smugly back at the stasis chamber, flicking his tail in dismissal as he flew away.
Trip gasped as his mind returned to him and he grew aware of his surroundings again, aware of his hands locked to the warm orb, of the temple all around him, and of the battle that still raged outside. A thunderous boom sounded, the noise and a cloud of dust rolling down the tunnel and into the pyramid.
Telryn! Azarwrath’s shout was frustrated, as if he’d repeated it many times. Your comrades will fall to the automatons. We are unable to affect them as long as they carry those chapaharii weapons, and your team’s attempts to knock them aside aren’t working.
In other words, now would be a good time for you to find a switch to turn them off, Jaxi said.
Trip didn’t
know if the soulblades had seen the vision, or if it had only been for him, but he shook it and all its ramifications aside and focused again on the sphere. The control orb. It had to do more than man the stasis chamber. He hoped.
The device attempted to thrust some other vision on him, but he was prepared this time. He slammed his bank vault door shut to protect his mind, and he delved inside the orb, searching for instructions, controls. Yes, there. He found a map of the pyramid, including a storage area outside where those hulking constructs resided when they were not activated by the approach of living beings. There was a control panel on the wall. He could not read the words embedded in it, but he understood them, nonetheless. He selected the one that meant return.
Another boom echoed through the chamber, and Trip worried the others would bring down the entire mountain.
The constructs did not obey, did not roll back to the storage room. Trip swept outward with his senses and saw Kaika and Rysha fighting side by side between the two hulking machines. Machines that no longer moved. He sensed their mangled insides. They attempted to obey the command to return to storage, but the smashed wheels could no longer propel their bases forward.
The automatons that had been mounted atop them, the eight-armed humanoid fighters, had come free somehow. They had leaped from their immobile platforms and now faced Kaika and Rysha while Duck and Leftie waited in the mouth of the tunnel, each gripping grenades, waiting for opportunities to throw them.
Where was Blazer? Trip didn’t see her.
As the automatons maneuvered, trying to surround Kaika and Rysha, Trip abruptly realized why those who’d run from the cavern hadn’t made it. The metal figures must have leaped free of the constructs and chased them down. Most of them. Somehow, his mother had run far enough and fast enough while the others fell to those wicked blades.
What can I do? Trip manipulated the control panel again, hoping another lever might tell the automatons to return, but the commands seemed only to apply to the pyramid bases.